Davion Mitchell locks down Payton Pritchard as Kings claim Las Vegas Summer League crown
The legend of Davion Mitchell’s defense will continue to grow following a lockdown performance against Payton Pritchard in the Las Vegas Summer League championship game Tuesday night at Thomas & Mack Center.
Pritchard made a ballyhooed return to Sin City for the championship game after scoring 92 points in a Portland pro-am event Saturday. He went into the contest as the sixth-leading scorer in the summer league tournament at 20.3 points per game, but he got the patented “Off Night” treatment from Mitchell.
Mitchell spearheaded another inspired defensive effort from the Kings, who completed their unbeaten run to the Las Vegas Summer League championship under coach Bobby Jackson with a 100-67 victory over the Boston Celtics. The Celtics averaged 100.0 points in their first four games, but they couldn’t crack the code against a swarming Sacramento defense.
“I didn’t know what to expect out of this game,” Jackson said. “I knew it was going to be a really good game because, looking at them on film, they play fast and they shoot a lot of 3s, but in my comments I told my guys they haven’t ran across a defense like ours.”
Louis King was named championship game MVP after posting 21 points, five steals and three rebounds for the Kings (5-0). Jahmi’us Ramsey scored 16 points and Matt Coleman III added 14. Spark plug Emanuel Terry came up big in the absence of Chimezie Metu, putting up nine points, 15 rebounds and five steals.
Carsen Edwards scored 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting for the Celtics (4-1). Pritchard, a second-year guard who shot 44.1% from 3-point range as a rotation player for the Celtics last season, was held to six points on 3-of-9 shooting with six turnovers.
Pritchard went into the game shooting 51.4% from the field and a staggering 57.7% from 3-point range on 8.7 attempts per game. When guarded by Mitchell, he was 2 of 6 from the field and 0 of 4 from beyond the arc with four turnovers.
Pritchard tried to go right. He tried to go left. Then he went right again, only to get forced back to his left. Everywhere Pritchard went, Mitchell was there, even shadowing him closely during dead-ball situations. When it was over, Pritchard had to check his shorts to see if Mitchell was still in there, but Mitchell was at center court with his teammates, hoisting the championship trophy.
“Payton’s a really good player,” Mitchell said. “He can do everything on the floor. He can facilitate, pass the ball. He can really do anything. I just tried to take away his space.”
The Kings scored 38 points off 28 turnovers, holding a high-powered Celtics offense to 39% shooting from the field and 19.4% shooting from 3-point range. The Kings won their first summer league championship since 2014, becoming the first team to win multiple titles since the NBA began crowning a champion in 2013.
“Congratulations and thank you to our players, coaches and staff,” Kings general manager Monte McNair said. “Tonight we celebrate this step in the process of development and building winning habits. Tomorrow we look forward to getting back to work, with the clear focus of getting this organization and team back into the NBA playoffs.”
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 5:15 AM.
